Class 5A Playoff Preview and Predictions

J-Jay Thomas(left) of Scotlandville and Dominick Scelfo(right) of Jesuit will lead their teams tonight

Antonio Landers(Left) of Ouachita and Shavon Coleman(Right) of Thibodaux will lead their teams tonight

Traditional power is back on top of 5A once again as St. Augustine Purple Knights led by senior Elridge Moore and sophomore standouts Javan Felix and Sydie London come in as the top seed followed at 2 by Scotlandville and J-Jay Thomas who is a Stephen F. Austin signee. Coming in as the 3 seed is Ouachita, the defending 5A champ led by coach Casey Jones and Antonio Landers. Sulphur comes in as the 4 seed led by Chip Armelin and Matt LeBato while Hammond rounds out the top 5 with first year coach Brent Grigas. With much of the hype around Scotlandville's amazing season in which they have won the East Baton Rouge Parish tournament, beaten Istrouma twice, Glen Oaks twice, Christian Life, Ouachita, Ellender and Northside, a sleeper team to watch are the Jesuit Blue Jays and 21 seed Southwood. Jesuit comes in as the 6 seed and hosts East St. John, while Southwood travels to 12 seed Central-BR. Southwood will look to the senior scoring of guards Dean Johns and Mike Davis who both can flat out play. Central will counter with PG Josh Veals, Wes Brisoe and Brock Poydras. This 12/21 game should be a great game and I am planning on covering this game tonight I don't think Southwood will win on the road, but I will not be shocked if they do. As for the top seed St. Aug, they have a tough road to the dome as does Scotlandville. St. Aug's path could include Thibodaux on the road led by top 100 player Shavon Coleman, and a possible rematch with district rival Brother Martin or a rematch from last years quarterfinal with West Monroe in which they lost. So, those are a few things to look for as the playoffs begin. Some other players to note are Jesuit's Dominick Scelfo(Cornell) and junior Brady Hadden, Brother Martin's Pat Swilling Jr., West Monroe's Cory Lacy, Hammond's Mark Bridgewater and Dominic McCoy, St. Thomas More's Xavier Blackburn and Will Norman, Westgate's Jacoby Colbert, and Airline's sophomore sensation Josh Hagins.

First Round Playoff Predictions

Top Bracket

1. St. Augustine  over 32. Acadiana
17. Thibodaux over 16. Slidell
9. Brother Martin  over 24. Lafayette
8. West Monroe over25. Ponchatoula
5. Hammond over 28. West Jefferson
21. Southwood over 12. Central-BR
20. Pineville over 13. LaGrange
29. South Lafourche over 4. Sulphur

Bottom Bracket

3. Ouachita  over 30. C.E. Byrd
14. St. Thomas More  over 19. Destrehan
11. Hahnville  over 22. Catholic-BR
6. Jesuit  over 27. East St. John
7. Westgate  over 26. Central Lafourche
10. John Ehret  over 23. Covington
15. Airline over 18. Natchitoches Central
2. Scotlandville over 31. Denham Springs